


Superstar

by Hypercamera3



Series: The Movement [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bombing, Headcanon Names For Ancestors, Hemoism, Humanstuck, More as it progresses - Freeform, Protesting, Psychological Torture, Rebellion, Terrorists, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-06-18
Updated: 2014-06-21
Packaged: 2018-02-05 03:40:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1803958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hypercamera3/pseuds/Hypercamera3
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hundreds of years ago, the nation of Beforus was conquered by the empire of Alternia. Hundreds of years later, the nation of Alternia remains in the site of where Beforus once stood, exiling the people of Beforus to the poorest areas. Fighting and civil war have been erupting for decades, but all the fighting suddenly came to a stop. </p>
<p>In the spotlight, as the fighting comes to an end, is the ever-elusive Signless. Signless has become acclaimed across the country, and popular throughout the world, for his "War of Peace" and his status as a Social Media Icon. The infamous figure rises up, preaching the words of the Beforian religion, Hemoism, to end the oppression of the Alternian government. The only problem is that his followers have begun to treat him like the messiah that their scriptures prophesied, and he begins to embrace it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired from a viewing of the Jesus Christ Superstar Arena Spectacular.

_“Social media has been exploding the last few months with the movement of Hashtag Signless.”_

_“The movement out in the war-torn nation of Alternia known as Hashtag Signless has become a worldwide phenomenon.”_

_“In a small piece of surprising news, the widespread riots that have been cropping up all over the nation of Alternia have come to a sudden halt. Political observers are placing the reason for this on the new round of protests brought about by the social media icon of Signless.”_

_“Correspondents out in Alternia are reporting that the Signless is beginning one of his speeches. We are going to see if it is possible to get words from the man behind this social media uproar.”_

_**“The Signless does not perform interviews with the Associated Press.”** _

_“Word on Hashtag Signless is that the man behind this fast-growing social movement is a Hemoistic preacher, from the Beforian badlands in the southern districts of Alternia. I think if there was ever a major chance for the Beforans to take the world stage and finally settle this rivalry with the Alternians, it is definitely right now, while this movement is in full swing.”_

_“The Alternian president, Melinda Peixes, declined to comment on the expanding popularity of The Signless. Chief-of-Defense Kendrick Makara said that the obsession of this movement was ‘just a fad’ and would be coming to an end ‘soon.’”_

 

_“A large following of people have been rising up out of southern borders of Alternia to join the Hashtag Signless movement. The people come sporting large gray blankets, referring to themselves as the Gray Flags. The Signless movement has incorporated the term into the movement, to refer to anyone who is in support of what the movement hopes to accomplish.”_

_“Hashtag Signless into it’s fourth month of trending across the internet.”_

_“Everybody is buzzing about this movement!”_

_“I think that this is something amazing, something that will really push against the questionable powers that President Peixes has been, I dare say, abusing over the last couple of years.”_

_“And the question on everybody’s lips are: Who is The Signless? And what is his next move?”_

 

* * *

 

“Kendrick!” President Peixes announced. He spat into the garbage can beside his desk before rising up and walking into her office. “Every fucking news station is still talking about this fucker.” She muted the television.

 

“That’s the media for you.” He took a seat down across from her. His tie and slacks matched the same deep purple color, the pattern intersected by his white dress shirt, drenched in sweat. He had sliced the top button off with the knife he kept in his pocket. He was rolling his sleeves up to his elbows now. “Always trying to keep the underdog, zeitgeist in the spotlight.”

 

“But he’s still out there,” Peixes nearly screamed. But she couldn’t scream. Screaming implied a loss of temper, and a loss of temper implied weakness. That was not an option. Signs of weakness would never be shown by her. She adjusted the fuschia dress coat she wore, smoothed out the matching skirt, and ran her fingers down along her braided hair. “What am i paying you for if not to handle that problem.”

 

“You pay me to kill the motherfuckers that are trying to oppose you. And those fucks have always been small time players. Guys who go missing and cause no trouble to us for doing so. Disappearing during the riots, or getting killed during the struggles. I can’t do the same to this guy.”

 

“Why the fuck can’t you?”

 

“No riots, for starters. I can’t just abduct him during the middle of the fighting or shoot him and left people assume that the fighting he was stirring up caused him to lose his life. It’s the only uncompromising way we can get rid of those fuckers. He’s got all those people wrapped around his fingers. They refuse to fight because he tells them not to. And that’s a problem. Next, I have no idea how we would even go about finding him.” The Chief-of-Defense stopped so he could put a cigarette between his lips. It was fucking hot, he was fucking stressed out, and this was the only thing that could get his mind away from these shitty thoughts. “Fucker keeps himself constantly hidden. No interviews. No pictures. None of my men can even get close enough in the huge fucking crowds of his sermons to even distinguish which one he is. He likes to walk around the crowd, speaking loud but zigzagging. Likes to wear a gray cloak to, dresses like he came straight out of the Hemocatei.”

 

“I hate when you start talking about that Beforian religious bullshit,” Peixes interrupted.

 

“It’s part of his gimmick, and it is important to know that it’s part of his gimmick. If you don’t like it, well, that’s why you put a Beforian as Chief-of-Defense, right?”

 

“All it gave me were more fucking riots.”

 

“No one’s motherfucking perfect.” Kendrick took a long drag from his cigarette once he found a match. He blew smoke out in little rings, aiming to get the center of the circles on the extended point of the chandelier above them.  “Like I was saying. We can follow his crowds, but if we can’t see his face, we can’t get him.”

 

“Why can’t you just arrest them all?”

 

“Arresting them all would be against guidelines that we set up. Plus, the ones we have arrested already confirm that they will never give him up. They’re dedicated to the cause and no one wants to even consider the idea of betraying him.”

 

“And killing them all is out of the question.”

 

Kendrick nodded.

 

“Son of a bitch. At this rate, I might as well go back to fishing, because nothing else seems to be going right for me!” Peixes craned her neck backwards over her leather chair, only stopping when she heard her bones pop. “Ah!”

 

“If anything happens to this guy, we’re gonna have problems. Sure, he’s stirring up a little trouble down in the badlands, but who gives a shit, ok? I say we take some time to enjoy the fact that we can rest for a while without riots or protests or fucking gun battles in the streets. And, you need to get it in your head that this one can’t be killed, at least not yet. If he dies, whoa, we’re gonna have backlash bigger than anything you’ve ever seen. Not just from the Beforans, but from every fucking country that’s decided to put their fucking eyes down on us. The motherfucker was smart, however he got his protest public like this. We can’t kill him,” Kendrick stopped, gesturing to the muted television. “he’s a superstar.”

 

 


	2. Totem Pole

The sun had found itself hovering high above the heads of all those at the camp. The tents were made from old blankets that were supported from the branches that had been pulled off of dead trees. Many of the blankets had either been torn on the road or eaten through by moths, so people had sewn patches for their tents using pieces of their clothes. Fire pits dotted the camp, but no one was fool enough to light them as the sun beat down across bear skin. Some people had accepted the heat and sat down on the burning sand, while others were still resisting and walking between tents.

 

Everyone had their gray flags surrounding the camp. The perimeter it formed served as the protective walls against those who opposed the protesters. The perimeter ended at the base of a hill that the camp sat in the shadow of.

 

Simeon Captor sat cross-legged atop the hill. He slowly shuffled a deck of playing cards, looking out upon the camp. He adjusted the sunglasses he wore, which tinted everything a slightly more orange color than it already was. He dressed himself in a long cotton robe, gray lined with cloth-of-gold, or so he told others. Really it was just the remains of a yellow silk blanket that he referred to as cloth-of-fool’s-gold. The robe was now pooled around him, hanging off of his head only by the hood.

 

He had surrounded himself with maps. That was the purpose that the people of this movement had placed in him. He was the man who guided them across all of Alternia. He’d served as a merchant for about twenty years before joining with the Signless. He sold rugs mostly. Expensive rugs made from the expensive fabrics from further east. As a result, he was the only Beforian among them who knew the ins and outs of every small town and big city. He was one of the Signless’ top supporters, a part of his inner circle, and the Signless was, undoubtedly, Simeon’s best friend.

 

He shut his eyes and sighed. Simeon had been travelling with Signless since he became a well known preacher in the badlands. He’d never been particularly religious, still wasn’t. He had read from the _Hemocatei_ , but none of it interested him much. Still, Signless made the scriptures interesting. He made the words pop out from the book and mean something to people. He preached about equality. His words spoke truth to the plight that the Alternians had put down upon all Beforan people for far too long. Signless made the people believe in justice. Straight from the ninth book of the _Hemocatei_ he’d begun talking about the “War of Peace” that needed to be waged. Three years Signless had been preaching. Now he was a worldwide social justice icon, thanks to Maddie’s work.

 

Simeon looked towards the tent he knew was Signless’ with annoyance. He remembered why he thought the followers of Hemoism were so idiotic. They were going through their good book now, and worshipping Signless as the coming of the savior they were always promised. Now, the same problem that had been arising from that was coming on a global scale.

 

Signless was becoming nothing more than a poster-boy for change. No one was actually paying attention to what he was saying anymore. There was a spotlight being cast over Alternia and it just so happened that Signless was in the leading role, but his only role was to serve as a fancy image to put on merchandise being sold thousands of miles away for the sake of “Standing Up To The Man,” and it was a fucking disappointment.

 

The deck had been shuffled enough and he returned them to the pocket of his robe.

 

“Thignlethth, you’re falling for what thethe aththholes are thaying.” He stopped. “Fuck, no… Creon, we’re under Alternian law, and your Peathful movement ithn’t…”

 

He started muttering to himself. He’d had the conversation a thousand times in his own mind, but now that the day had come that he decided he would confront his friend, the words had escaped him. He had been on the hill since morning trying to reconstruct the talk. The words refused to return to him. He slipped his arms back into his robes and gathered his maps.

 

The whole march down the hill he muttered to himself, replaying the conversation in his mind. The camp was buzzing with work. Men and women and children were jumping back and forth between cleaning clothes and preparing fire pits and fixing tents and gathering food. There was a new group who were gathered around a wash basin, meticulously transforming the flags of Alternia into the gray flags that represented Signless. It was only the closer he got to Signless’ tent that he noticed the massive crowd that was surrounding it. Signless stood in the center of the crowd, along with his Disciple beside him. Simeon set his maps down beside his own tent and listened to the crowd. They were demanding answers.

 

“Where are we going?”

 

“What are doing?”

 

“When do we go to the capital?”

 

“How are we going to fight them?”

 

“What are we going to do to them?”

 

“Who are we going to meet?”

 

The questions kept coming at him, one after another. Finally, Signless raised his hand into the air. “Enough! Why do you want to know? Are you all truly obsessed with fighting?”

 

The crowd remained silent, fixated on absolutely any word he had to say to them now. “I could tell you everything you desired to know and more, if I were so inclined, my brothers and sisters. But I do not understand the tidings of these things, so you would understand it far less than I ever shall. Now, return to your tents and please be patient.” Only a few moved. “Go!” He demanded and the crowd scattered.

 

He took a seat on the stone beside him and sighed, lowering his hood. His hand slowly combed through his mess of black hair. His Disciple moved behind him quickly. She gripped his shoulders and began to lightly massage them. The preacher released a small groan and turned his face skyward to face her. Maddie smiled and bent forward. The two exchanged a kiss as Simeon approached.

 

“I thtill don’t agree with this,” He said. Their heads moved in unison to look at him. “A man like you and a girl like her? You wathte your time.”

 

Someone heard Simeon’s words and alerted a few of the surrounding followers. News travelled fast while Signless remained silent. Soon, a small crowd had gathered around, pretending they were not listening.

 

“Now, I have no problemth with her being a whore,” Simeon began after the prolonged silence, “but the thingth you preach from your good book theem wrong compared to what thhe does. Contradictionth are a dangerouth thing.”

Signless rose up from his spot and moved to Simeon. The two were standing chest-to-chest. “What did you call her?” Signless demanded. Simeon took notice of the newly sewn hood he wore, distinct now with bright red stitches along the edges.

 

“I thimply referred to her by the title of the career thhe chothe. And to exchange kiththeth and let her maththage you, well it jutht thtrikes me as more than a little mythtifying.” Simeon did not look away from his friend. He leaned forward and whispered. “If anyone catcheth your contradiction, Creon, we’ll all be put away by them and those Alternians. They only need one excuthe.”

 

Creon pushed him back. “I’m amazed you could mock my teachings so! If you have committed no wrongs in life, then you may be free to strike down Maddulian! Go ahead, if you have never committed a crime against Him, ruin her, and I with her, if you dare to.”

 

Simeon gulped and looked around at the crowd before them. He shook his head and took a few steps back from them, holding his hands up in surrender.

 

“That is what I thought,” Creon turned to see the crowd around him. “What are you looking at, you shallow, gossips? Go!” The crowd scattered back to their work again.

  
  


Creon stepped back over to Maddie. She’d sat down on the rock, her head cast down. He put his hand gently on her head and started stroking her hair. “What is wrong, Simeon?”

 

Simeon took a moment to watch his friends, then sighed. He knelt down in front of them and took Maddie’s hand. “I’m thorry. But, pleathe, lithten to me, for onthe, Creon.”

 

“I am listening,” Creon said curtly.

 

“We are in a very dangerouth thituation right now,” Simeon warned. “The Alternian government ith looking for any reathon to think that we no longer have the thupport of our people.”

 

“All of these followers are incredibly devoted and willing to continue onward for us.” Creon extended his hand and helped Maddie to her feet.

 

“Not if they learned that you lied to them!” Simeon shouted. “When you uthed to preach, there was no talk of God and his thaviorth! No talk of vithionth and end-timeth. You’ve bought into thith idea they’ve forthe fed you. You really do believe that you’re their meththiah.”

 

Creon held his head up, the only way he could measure up to the height of his friend. “The words I speak are all the truth, Simeon. I trust my people, and I believe in myself. We will get through these trying times, and there will be justice for us, finally.”

 

“Creon,” he responded, “Thethe people don’t want a peatheful engagement. I’ve been lithtening, ath have you! They want to fight. They want to kill all the Alternianth. You’re jutht totem pole they’re all gathering around.”

 

Creon put a hand out upon Simeon’s shoulder. “You must put faith in me, brother. All shall go perfectly, as we hope.”

 

“You matter more than your wordth. Can’t you thee that?”

 

“What I see is a wonderful collection of Beforans, all brought together with the common goal of ending the injustices of Alternian rule without need for bloodshed, as the foolish leaders who came before me made it end in.”

 

Maddie stood up and moved between the two of them. “Excuse me, but Creon, I had hoped we could work on the statement you wanted to put online?”

 

“Yes, That will be perfect.” Creon patted his friend on the shoulder and made his way back to his tent.

 

Maddies turned to Simeon, a small smile still lit up on her face.

 

“Maddie, I’m thorry, I’m jutht-”

 

“Oh, I understand, don’t worry. I’m worried about him too. I think he doesn’t fully grasp what his own people want. We need to keep our eyes open, but things are working right now, Simeon.” She wrapped her arms around him in a hug and whispered to him. “Don’t fuck it all up, now.”

 

She let go and returned to Signless’ tent, without another word from either her or Simeon. He removed his hood and his sunglasses, wiping the sweat from around his sockets and started back towards his tent.

 

He started collecting his maps to move them into his tent when Damorell spotted him. She adjusted her hair and approached him. She’d spotted the rotten look on Simeon’s face.

 

“What matter?” She said in her broken Beforan.

  
“He won’t lithten to me!” Simeon shouted at her before going into his tent. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, Damorell is Handmaid.

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed and stick around for the ride.


End file.
